Emulating the Gujarat model, Andhra Pradesh government will soon enact a legislation seeking to provide stringent punishment for land grabbing.
A new act will be formulated on the lines of the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020, the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said.
“We have decided to bring in AP Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, on the lines of a similar legislation in Gujarat, which provides stringent punishment for land grabbing,” Naidu said while releasing a white paper on “misappropriation of natural resources – land, mines and minerals and forests” during the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) regime.
The Chief Minister called upon people to file complaints on land grabbing done in the last five years. “We shall create a website on the official portal of the government, where the people can lodge complaints on land grabbing by unscrupulous elements,” he said.
The Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020 provides for punishment of land grabbers with an imprisonment for a period of not less than 10 years, which can be extended to 14 years and a fine to the extent of the market value of the grabbed land.
Naidu said according to the reports received from various district administrations, court cases and public complaints, the value of the land grabbed in the last five years had been estimated to be Rs 35,576 crore. “In fact, going by the complaints still being received from the public, the actual quantum of land is much higher,” he said.
He said the illegal land transactions committed during the YSRCP government include cases worth Rs 4,469 crore in Visakhapatnam; Rs 101 crore in Prakasam district, Rs 270 crore in Tirupati and Rs 99 crore in Chittoor; misappropriation of more than Rs 3,000 crore in land acquisition for house sites; allotment of land for the YSRCP offices worth Rs 300 crore and assignment of 13,081 acres of lands worth Rs 1300 crore to ineligible beneficiaries and granting of freehold rights to assigned lands worth Rs 14,831 crore.
Similarly, Naidu said the state government had lost a revenue of Rs 19,137 crore to the state exchequer due to alleged exploitation of mines and mineral resources, including sand, minor minerals and illegal mining in forest areas and non-recovery of pending dues from sand contractors.
“Besides, the previous government turned a blind eye on smuggling of red sanders, encroachment of forest lands and resorted to huge damage of environment by destruction of mangrove forests in the name of housing colonies and Rushikonda Hills for the construction of chief minister’s residence-cum-camp office,” Naidu alleged.
